Black Panther, the new Marvel film starring Chadwick Boseman and Michael B Jordan, has been one of the most highly anticipated films of the year. Finally, the reviews are in. The Telegraph gave the groundbreaking African superhero story four stars and called it "a fresh perspective on a well-worn format", but he wasn't alone in his enthusiasm. Here's what the critics thought.

The central tension between Jordan and Boseman is deftly played, with simmering echoes of Richard III. Martin Freeman does a nice job as a CIA tech nerd and, yes, “token white guy”. There are one or two ropey effects shots, nonetheless, and the ending is an agonised, overlong punch-up between two CGI characters whizzing about in a synthetic environment. But this is a Marvel movie. What do you expect?

And where do we go after this? Does Black Panther get to be another subordinate bit-part player in future Marvel ensemble movies? I hope not: I want stories where Black Panther takes on people outside Wakanda and I hope that Nakia gets a movie of her own. The intriguing thing about Black Panther is that it doesn’t look like a superhero film – more a wide-eyed fantasy romance: exciting, subversive and funny.

In their print form, comic books have led the way in terms of representation and inclusivity, long empowering non-white, non-male characters in their pages. Although previous big-screen examples certainly exist – among them Wesley Snipes’ Blade and Will Smith’s Hancock – Black Panther celebrates its hero’s heritage while delivering one of Marvel’s most all-around appealing standalone installments to date. Going forward, Black Panther will join the ranks of the Avengers, further diversifying their ranks. In the meantime, it’s awesome to see Black Power celebrated in such a mainstream fashion.

Race matters in Black Panther and it matters deeply, not in terms of Manichaean good guys and bad but as a means to explore larger human concerns about the past, the present and the uses and abuses of power. That alone makes it more thoughtful about how the world works than a lot of mainstream movies, even if those ideas are interspersed with plenty of comic-book posturing. It wouldn’t be a Marvel production without manly skirmishes and digital avatars. Yet in its emphasis on black imagination, creation and liberation, the movie becomes an emblem of a past that was denied and a future that feels very present. And in doing so opens up its world, and yours, beautifully.

Passionately performed and lavish in its love for African culture, Black Panther is a franchise film with a distinct individual identity, and one that wants to mean something to those who watch it. When a group of black kids gaze up at the alien-like Wakandan aircraft shimmering in the sky above their California home, their eyes fill with wonder. In moments like these, we’re reminded just why representation matters.

The one outlier is Marc Bernardin at Nerdist, who declares "Black Panther is like the most delicious cake you’ve ever tasted in your entire life, but which isn’t quite cooked all the way through."

The problem? Black Panther himself". "[T'Challa] is also almost entirely devoid of flaws," Bernardin writes. "He’s a deadly martial artist, a stalwart friend, well-educated, even-tempered, quick to smile, and, despite all that, he’s humble. Flaws are the grooves, the nocks that add depth. Perfection in fiction, unlike in life, can be boring. I mean, even Indiana Jones was afraid of snakes."

As a nerd and as a black man, I’ve been waiting for this movie for my entire life, whether I knew it or not. The fact that Black Panther gets so much right, but one crucial thing wrong, is both thrilling and maddening.